IS FIN GAL'S CAVE ARTIFICIAL? 23 , 



ing, or the gestures of the instrumentalist ; every accent is preceded 

 by an inspiration or a drawing of the bow, marking the beginning of 

 a new effort. These efforts, methodically arranged, give musical 

 measure. 



Different rhythms reflect the different paces of the walker or the 

 rider plainly enough to justify us in attributing their origin to them. 

 The same cause that makes one pace his room with gaits varying ac- 

 cording to the impressions of the moment, in the reverie of solitude or 

 in conversation, also determines the rhythm in music. 



Just as our emotional being loves to be amused by rhythms sug- 

 gesting natural outer movements, so certain cadenced sounds casually 

 heard, such as that of a passing train, the trotting of a horse, or the 

 beating of oars, induce states of sensibility, under the influence of 

 which we surprise ourselves by humming old airs, or by improvising 

 melodies that naturally adapt themselves to the fortuitous move- 

 ment. 



This conception of the origin of music explains the universality of 

 its domain and its power, as well as all the particular facts connected 

 with its different adaptations. Translated from the Revue Scientifique. 



IS FINGAL'S CAVE AKTIFICIAL ? * 



Br F. COPE "WHITEHOUSE, M. A., etc. 



IN venturing to ask a question and thus imply a doubt upon a point 

 on which geologists, statesmen, and poets have given their con- 

 sentient opinion for a century, it is not without regret that an opin- 

 ion, held without suspicion of challenge, should be subjected to criti- 

 cism, and better proof than prescription required for the title by which 

 this celebrated cavern has been held and enjoyed as the work of 

 Nature. 



The process of reasoning which led me to believe that the cavern 

 owes its existence to the hand of man had little in common with the 

 arguments by which the inference is now supported. In June, 1881, 

 while examining the Giants' Causeway, it seemed evident that colum- 

 nar basalt showed no tendency to erode and form hollows. Where 

 the basalt, which for the height of some hundreds of feet above the 

 chalk is quite amorphous, and caps the low promontories along the 

 coast, is brought so low that more than one half of its thickness is im- 

 mersed in the sea, the remainder projects above the water and forms 

 the well-known natural pier. The caves on that coast are in the great 



* A summary of an address made before the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science at Montreal, August 30th, and the Academy of Science at New York, 

 October 9, 1882, illustrated by photographs and diagrams. 



